PMMA–SiO2 hybrid films as gate dielectric for ZnO based thin-film transistors

• PMMA–SiO2 hybrid films as dielectric material synthesized by sol–gel process at low temperature.
• PMMA–SiO2 films implemented for the first time as hybrid gate dielectric for ZnO-based TFTs.
• The electrical characteristics of the fabricated TFTs depend on the starting coupling agent concentration.
• The optimized TFT devices show good saturation mobility and excellent current on-off ratio.
• This dielectric is a promising candidate for use in organic and/or flexible electronics applications.

In this paper we report a low temperature sol–gel deposition process of PMMA–SiO2 hybrid films, with variable dielectric properties depending on the composition of the precursor solution, for applications to gate dielectric layers in field-effect thin film transistors (FE-TFT). The hybrid layers were processed by a modified sol–gel route using as precursors Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and Methyl methacrylate (MMA), and 3-(Trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (TMSPM) as the coupling agent. Three types of hybrid films were processed with molar ratios of the precursors in the initial solution 1.0: 0.25, 0.50, 0.75: 1.0 for TEOS: TMSPM: MMA, respectively. The hybrid films were deposited by spin coating of the hybrid precursor solutions onto p-type Si (100) substrates and heat-treated at 90 °C for 24 h. The chemical bonding in the hybrid films was analyzed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to confirm their hybrid nature. The refractive index of the hybrid films as a function of the TMSPM coupling agent concentration, were determined from a simultaneous analysis of optical reflectance and spectroscopic ellipsometry experimental data. The PMMA–SiO2 hybrid films were studied as dielectric films using metal-insulator-metal structures. Capacitance–Voltage (C–V) and current–voltage (I–V) electrical methods were used to extract the dielectric properties of the different hybrid layers. The three types of hybrid films were tested as gate dielectric layers in thin film transistors with structure ZnO/PMMA–SiO2/p-Si with a common bottom gate and patterned Al source/drain contacts, with different channel lengths. We analyzed the output electrical responses of the ZnO-based TFTs to determine their performance parameters as a function of channel length and hybrid gate dielectric layer.